We all vary in how much we believe people's attributes, such as their intelligence, are fixed or subject to change. Now a new paper has looked at the implications such beliefs have for the way managers view and treat their staff.
Peter Heslin and Don
VandeWalle say the research shows that managers with a fixed view of people's attributes tend to ignore improvements or deterioration in the performance of their staff, and are also less likely to ensure they receive the training they need.
One study, for example, gave managers negative background information about a fictional employee before they were shown that same person performing well at a negotiation task. Managers with a fixed view of personal attributes (they tended to agree with statements like "As much as I hate to admit it, you can't teach an old dog new tricks. People can't change their deepest attributes") subsequently rated the employee less positively than managers with a belief that people can change.
Another study found that managers who think people's attributes are fixed gave their staff less coaching, presumably because they think such interventions will be ineffective.
However, on a more positive note, there's research showing that managers who think people can't change, can be persuaded to the contrary by a range of exercises, including showing them scientific evidence for people's ability to change and getting them to think about why it is important for staff to develop their abilities.
Heslin and
VandeWalle concluded that this body of research has real-world implications. "To enhance workforce productivity, cues for managers to adopt a growth mindset [a belief that people can change] could be built into performance evaluation systems," they said. "These cues might include written, verbal and video-based reminders to managers...that all employee skills tend to be developed over time with practice and helpful feedback."
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Heslin, P.A.,
VandeWalle, D. (2008). Managers' Implicit Assumptions About Personnel.
Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17(3), 219-223.
DOI:
10.1111/j.1467-8721.2008.00578.x
译文:
经理应该考虑到他们雇员的发展
对于一个人品质的看法我们经常在改变,比如他们的智慧,是否固定不变或者改变.如今,一篇新的论文已经看到这种关联即经理看待他们员工的信念.皮特.汉斯林和东.范德威尔表示这个研究表现了对人们的特质有固定看法的老板往往忽视员工们表现的进步或者退步,也不太可能去保障他们得到他们应需的培训.
一个研究，比如，给经理们提供一些虚构员工的负面的背景资料在这些员工在一次谈判表现良好之前．那些对人持有固定看法的经理（他们往往同意类似＂我差不多不会接受此事＂这样的表述，你不可以教一个老古董一个新的招数，人们不会去改变那些根深缔固的观念和性格）于是便比那些认为人会改变的经理更加断然地判定一个人．
另外一个研究发现，那些认为人不会改变的经理不会给员工们一些培训,大概他们会认为这些措施基本上没有什么效果．
但是，在一个更积极的记录里，有个研究表示那些认为人们不会改变的经理可以根据练习排名的相对立而被劝服．包括给他们看一些关于人们能力转变的一些科学的证据让他们思考为什么发展他们能力的重要性．
汉斯林和范德威尔得出一个结论：研究体具有实践意义．＂为了加强劳动生产力，提示经理们接纳成长意见（人们会发生改变的一个信念）可以建设成为一个能力评估平台．＂他们说：＂这些提示包括笔头，口头，以及在录象面前对经理们的暗示．．．所有的员工在一定时间的练习和有帮助的反馈之后可以提高业务技能．＂